“Something of the sort was told me by Earthrid, the musician, who came from Threal.”

“I don’t know him.  What else did he tell you?”

“He went on to apply it to music.  Continue, and pardon the interruption.”

“These three states of perception are the three worlds.  Existence is Faceny’s world, relation is Amfuse’s world, feeling is Thire’s world.”

“Can’t we come down to hard facts?” said Maskull, frowning.  “I understand no more than I did before what you mean by three worlds.”

“There are no harder facts than the ones I am giving you.  The first world is visible, tangible Nature.  It was created by Faceny out of nothingness, and therefore we call it Existence.”

“That I understand.”

“The second world is Love—­by which I don’t mean lust.  Without love, every individual would be entirely self-centred and unable deliberately to act on others.  Without love, there would be no sympathy—­not even hatred, anger, or revenge would be possible.  These are all imperfect and distorted forms of pure love.  Interpenetrating Faceny’s world of Nature, therefore, we have Amfuse’s world of Love, or Relation.”

“What grounds have you for assuming that this so-called second world is not contained in the first?”

“They are contradictory.  A natural man lives for himself; a lover lives for others.”

“It may be so.  It’s rather mystical.  But go on—­who is Thire?”

“Length and breadth together without depth give flatness.  Life and love without feeling produce shallow, superficial natures.  Feeling is the need of men to stretch out toward their creator.”

“You mean prayer and worship?”

“I mean intimacy with Thire.  This feeling is not to be found in either the first or second world, therefore it is a third world.  Just as depth is the line between object and subject, feeling is the line between Thire and man.”

“But what is Thire himself?”

“Thire is the afterworld.”

“I still don’t understand,” said Maskull.  “Do you believe in three separate gods, or are these merely three ways of regarding one God?”

“There are three gods, for they are mutually antagonistic.  Yet they are somehow united.”

Maskull reflected a while.  “How have you arrived at these conclusions?”

“None other are possible in Threal, Maskull.”

“Why in Threal—­what is there peculiar here?”

“I will show you presently.”

They walked on for above a mile in silence, while Maskull digested what had been said.  When they came to the first trees, which grew along the banks of a small stream of transparent water, Corpang halted.

“That bandage around your forehead has long been unnecessary,” he remarked.

Maskull removed it.  He found that the line of his brow was smooth and uninterrupted, as it had never yet been since his arrival in Tormance.